The present invention relates to a method for administering of a multicast service in which mobile terminals whose users have subscribed to the multicast service receive multicast messages via a mobile communications network.
In a multicast service, various subscribers to whom the same multicast message is intended to be transmitted are associated with a multicast group in which the subscribers are included. This multicast group is identified by a multicast address. The message data to be transmitted is sent only once to this multicast address. Ideally, the multicast message is sent only once via common connecting paths from a transmitter for the multicast message to the receivers. The transmitter does not need to know where and how many receivers are concealed behind the multicast address.
In known multicast services, it has been found to be disadvantageous that, irrespective of whether a specific mobile terminal which belongs to a relevant multicast group, is intended to receive multicast messages on the basis of the wishes of the user, multicast messages are sent to all the mobile radio cells in which mobile terminals which belong to that multicast group are located. As such, the transmission of a multicast message frequently makes use of radio resources which are associated with a mobile terminal which, on the basis of the wishes of its user, should not receive any multicast messages at that time.
Against this background, the present invention is directed toward a method for administering of a multicast service in which the available radio resources are used more economically.